Heating your house

[David Johnson]

At some point I will need to replace an ageing gas central heating system.

In a UK environment in which the gas companies can charge what they want, I can only see prices continue to leap in years to come. At the moment I am completely at the mercy of these robbers.

Have any forumites experience of moving away from gas central heating to other forms of heating e.g. multi-fuel stoves etc and if so, how successful are they from a cost/efficiency perspective?

Ta
D

[bernard72]

Get yourself a job in the private sector.
That way you have to work that many hours to get a decent wage you never get to spend any time at home, so you don't have to heat the house.
Or my only advise is get a new boiler in, and keep checking price comparison websites for offers on joining and don't stay for too long with the same company. If you do they just take the piss.
They offer cheap rates to get new customers but don't offer the same rates to their existing customers.
Or third choice, get a really big jumper.

[Arginald Valleywater]

Number one. Insulate. Kill draughts and get your loft done. Get cavity wall, there are often funding hot spots that allow low cost or free work to be done. Contact your local council for advice. Where are you in the UK btw?

[jimslip]

Unfortunately, the modern condensing boilers demanded by New Labour (I just couldn't resist it David, sorry lol) are creating a major problem for the future. Last winter they were a living nightmare for 10's thousands of owners due to failures. This article says that you MUST have one, but I read somewhere else that they are not compulsory, so I'd check!

[myson]

They are compulsary Jimbo, unless your property qualifies for an exemption (which 99.99% of properties in the UK won't).

Also, you try to find a non condensing boiler now. No chance.

Myson
!oldie!

[jimslip]

Mr Myson, I understand that the problem with condensing boilers, is a small outlet pipe that freezes if it is not lagged properly. Is this correct?

We too were going to replace our old boiler last year, but decided not to when we saw the story on TV. Our old one needs a kick every couple of years, but otherwise works fine. I would have been really pissied off, if we'd bought a new one and it had broken down at the coldest time last winter!

[David Johnson]

Bernard, I've worked in the private sector for over 25 years, so I know all about that one. As for a really big jumper, where did I put that down jacket now?

Arginald, I have already got the extra layers of roof insulation, cavity wall insulation and draught excluders etc. My concern is the "all your eggs in one basket" scenario whereby you are held to ransom.

Cheers
D

[David Johnson]

Jimbo, you are right about the problem with condensing boilers. As you say, the problem is with the small pipe that takes the condensate from the boiler to the external drain.

Both of my neighbours had problems last winter with these boilers when the pipe froze and the boiler stopped working - a pretty basic design error. The British Gas maintenance engineer (and glorified sales person "Oh you wont be able to get spare parts for this, now etc etc etc) said it was just a question of running a kettle of boiling water over the pipe! Err and when you are away from home?

As to an alternative to a condensing boiler, my understanding is that they were pushed from the point of view of their energy efficiency, but I know that British Gas now produce a back boiler, which is what I currently have, that has an A rating for energy efficiency.

However that still doesn't solve the problem of being totally reliant on one form of energy for heating where you are at the mercy of a monopoly putting up price rises and ever-increasing maintenance fees.

I may have a look at multi-fuel back boilers.

Cheers
D

[one eyed jack]

You might have a good few years fuel using last Sundays edition of The News Of The World....Probably about all the good that came out of that paper...Then again it can be recycled to wipe your arse too so that aint too bad either.

I know what you mean about those thieving bastards at British Gas charging up to 50%

All these billions they are saying it will cost for renewable energy is bollocks because they have that money from all the profits theyve made already anyway and ultimately we are paying for it anyway. They want the excuse to tax you on the fossil fuel energy because the renewable energy being made available for cheaper is loss of massive profits for them.

Its all about the money

I bet Monty Burns from the Simpsons is running British Gas